BEST SYNTHETIC ANSWER #1: CROSSING

Best Synthetic Answer is a solo exhibition by American artist and poet Rindon Johnson exploring the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean that connect the USA with China. Through this exhibition, Johnson asks how a Black American raised on the edge of the Pacific moves through the ocean to reach Shanghai. The answer is by swimming, encapsulated in Best Synthetic Answer #1: Crossing.

Best Synthetic Answer #1: Crossing simulates a real-time seven-month journey from the unceded territories of the Ohlone native peoples in San Francisco to Shanghai in China. At the centerpiece of this exhibition is Johnson’s avatar swimming across the ocean in real time, navigating a predetermined route that touches upon places the USA has sought to destroy, alter, or exploit. Johnson’s avatar encounters plastic debris and other remnants of what humans have spilled into the ocean. Johnson opens a new perspective on the Pacific, not as a known entity, but as a constantly moving and fundamentally evolving entity where the artificial and real converge.

Best Synthetic Answer #1: Crossing is on view at the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, from September 2024 to April 2025.

Credits

• Creative Direction: Rindon Johnson
  
• Development: Pariah Interactive
  

Pariah Interactive Team
* Technical Direction: Prashast Thapan
* Development: Luna “Yixi” Wu
* 3D Art and Animation: Stephanie Davila
* Production: Faith Zeng

Exhibitions and Events

• Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China, (2024)
  

Selected Press

• Frieze: "For Rindon Johnson, No Water is Neutral”
  
• Hyperallergic: “Rindon Johnson’s Odyssey Across the Pacific”
  
• ArtReviewr: “Rindon Johnson Maps the Pacific Ocean”
  
• e-fluxr: “Rindon Johnson: Best Synthetic Answer”